Trump posted an article to his Truth Social account this weekend featuring a deeply troubling image: a pink triangle—the Nazi-era symbol used to identify and persecute gay men in concentration camps—covered with a red prohibited sign. Historically, the LGBTQ+ rights movement reclaimed the pink triangle as a symbol of resistance, pride, and remembrance.
Trump
Truth Social
The article itself titled, “Army recruitment ads look quite different under Trump,” published by the Washington Times praises Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for refocusing the military on “lethality” and reversing Biden-era policies that embraced diversity, including ads featuring LGBTQ+ soldiers.
Holocaust Museum Exhibit of Nazi concentration camp badges
Max, Wikipedia Commons
The image, placed in the context of military recruitment, strongly suggests a rejection of LGBTQ+ service members, at least in the terms of recruitment, under Trump’s leadership.
Military ads recruitment illustration
Washington Times
Trump’s choice to amplify such an image is particularly alarming given Hegseth’s past statements.
Prisoners wearing triangles in the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen, Germany, December 19, 1938
Heinrich Hoffman Collection / NARA
He has long opposed LGBTQ+ inclusion in the military, previously criticizing the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
Pete Hegseth Lamented Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Change, Women in the Military
Now, under his leadership, Trump appears to be reinforcing the idea that LGBTQ+ individuals are unwelcome in the armed forces—not just through policy but through amplifying symbolic messaging with disturbing historical roots.
Pete Hegseth Campaigned to “Uphold Traditional Marriage” During 2012 Senate Run
Trump’s amplification of a Nazi-era symbol to promote this shift sends a message signaling a return to exclusionary policies that many believed were left in the past.
Becka Robbins of Fabulosa Books packs up LGBTQ+ books to send to parts of the country where they are banned, on 27 June 2024 in San Francisco. Photograph: Haven Daley/AP
The majority of banned books in US public schools last year dealt with people of color, LGBTQ+ people and other demographics, according to a new study from PEN America.
The report also counteracts claims by conservative lawmakers that books being removed from classrooms are sexually explicit and that book bans are altogether a “hoax”, an assertion made by Donald Trump.
There were more than 10,000 instances of books being banned in the 2023-24 school year, PEN America reported, a sharp increase from the previous year, as Republican-led states implemented new censorship laws.
Out of 4,218 book titles that were banned, 1,534 – or 36% – featured people of color, the most censored identity group in book bans. Some removed titles included August Wilson’s Pulitzer-prize winning play Fences and Innosanto Nagara’s A is for Activist, a picture book for children about social issues.
Books featuring people of color were disproportionately targeted in all banned-book categories, the report found, especially in removed historical and biographical titles. Of such banned books, 44% included people of color; more than one-fourth, or 26%, of those books featured Black people.
Advocates with PEN America noted that at the same time as the onslaught of book bannings, more than 50% of young people in the US are children of color, according to 2021 data from the Children’s Defense Fund.
“This targeted censorship amounts to a harmful assault on historically marginalized and underrepresented populations – a dangerous effort to erase their stories, achievements, and history from schools,” said Sabrina Baêta, senior manager for PEN America’s Freedom to Read program, in a press release about the report. “When we strip library shelves of books about particular groups, we defeat the purpose of a library collection that is supposed to reflect the lives of all people. The damaging consequences to young people are real.”
Titles featuring LGBTQ+ characters also made up a sizable number of book bans: 1,066 books, or 25% of all banned titles, included LGBTQ+ people. Transgender or genderqueer characters were specifically targeted in such book bans, as 28% of removed books featuring LGBTQ+ characters included that demographic.
Beyond people of color and LGBTQ+ people, books including disabled people were also affected by nationwide bans. About 10% of all removed titles included characters with physical, learning or developmental disabilities or who were neurodivergent. Several affected books with disabled characters focused on “confidence, self esteem, or experiences with ableism”, PEN America reported.
Meanwhile, only 13% of removed titles included “on the page” instances of sexual experiences. Inferred or “off the page” instances of sexual encounters were included in 31% of banned books.
The vast majority of banned books (85%) were fiction, with 14% being non-fiction and 1% poetry. About 67% of removed books were for younger audiences, PEN America reported.
The ongoing banning of books comes as the Trump administration has cracked down on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts in US public schools and universities. In a memo last week, Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from any schools that refused to eliminate diversity initiatives, such as scholarships for students of certain identity groups and school programming.
As anyone who follows me on this blog might or should know I love the content Ethel produces. I followed this young woman from when they were a teen struggling with their sexuality and their finally blossoming out and accepting herself as they are. How she feels inside themselves, and how they deal with that in the world around them. It is a hard struggle. I know I had to do it as a gay teen constantly surrounded and barraged by anti-gay propaganda, and that is what Ethel went through as a trans girl. It was complicated by her being autistic, which there is nothing wrong with being autistic, but it did mean a lot of people did not understand her and were unable to appreciate how detailed she can be. I know it is hard for her to cover these haters talking about abusers as she was abused as a child. However she stands up and gives grand videos supporting trans people and she includes her own strengths to the issue. Hugs
There is no meaningful difference between the claims made by gender ‘critical’ fascists when targeting trans people and those made by the Nazis of Nazi Germany. Said monster has been empowered by the press for too long and now threatens us all.
Hi, welcome to Essence of Thought with me, Ethel Thurston, as your host.
I know this is old but I worked hard on it. Now that I got the issues between computers worked out and I am in the process of reinstalling all the programs I need to make the computer do what I want, checking to make sure the issue that came up a week ago from reappearing. The issues of full acceptance and equality for the full LGBTQ+ community. Hugs
Please notice that the entire campaign to erase LGBTQ+ from society started with the false premise that the LGBTQ+, especially children need to be protected from trans people and drag queens. But the same people claim to be grand Christians yet they never address sexual abuse of children in churches or other organizations like foster homes / orphanages. These same people support a man for president that was credibly accused of violently raping a 13, how many more did not report the abuse? They support a man who bragged about barging into the changing rooms of teen girls as they were in different states of being undressed some of them nude during the teen pageants claiming it was his right as the owner. He is a child sex predator by his own words claiming he would date / have sex with his own young not adult daughter. They supported a man convicted of sexually assaulting a woman with the commonly understood phrase raped her. But they claim the real problem is women being raped in bathrooms if trans women are in there also. They support Pete Hegseth for Sec. Of Def. He also has been accused of sexually assaulting / raping a woman and assaulting other women. It was reported that he was often drunk and enjoyed going to places where women take off their clothing and at least one occasion needed to be restrained from going on stage with the nude women. Tell me where is the effort to removed white men from the social media and from the military? Sorry but when they say woke it means anything they dislike just as CRT did. When they say DEI it is them saying the “N” word and that females are inferior to males. Well let me get to separating the posts. Hugs.
An ongoing fight in Utah to ban pride flags in schools entered new territory Thursday after Rep. Trevor Lee proposed new legislation to ban the flags not just in public schools, but in any government building or on any government property. The bill, HB0077, originally applied only to schools. But an update to the bill released ahead of Thursday’s House Education Committee hearing expands the ban to all government buildings or property.
Approved flags for display in government buildings and schools would include the Utah state and U.S. flags, military flags, flags for other countries, flags for Native American tribes and official flags for colleges and universities. The bill also allows for the flying of a “historic version of a flag … that is temporarily displayed for educational purposes,” which Lee, R-Layton, said would include the Confederate and Nazi flags.
Read the full article. In his floor speech, Lee said, “You may have a Nazi flag. You may have a Confederate flag, and so you are allowed to display those flags as part of the curriculum, and that is okay.” An attempt to ban Pride flags failed in 9-20 Utah Senate vote last year. As you’ll see in the video report below, Lee has a history. His X feed is mostly retweets of prominent cultists and extremists. He’s also attacking the “dumb” report linked above.
A new bill would allow for Nazi and Confederate flags to be displayed in Utah schools and government buildings, but pride flags would be banned. https://t.co/Itdt9Ldocl
Sorry this may be the last post I make today. I am not doing well. I have had 3 hours sleep in two days. Monday I got a steroid shot in each shoulder so I could move them again. My bones ache so bad I wondered if I had gotten a cold or flu again. Steroids do depress my already depressed immune system. But I can hardly stand the pain in my hands, arms, legs, and I am not a jolly fellow today. Tomorrow I have my allergy shots. That should be great, right, what could go wrong with how I feel. Ron is going with me and we are going to buy the flooring for the Florida room Ron built and that will be my new office. As I have said before it is to give me more light and not feeling so isolated and will give us a spare bedroom for visitors. Hugs
If DOGE wants to root out "waste, fraud and abuse" in the healthcare area re: Medicaid, how about they cut out the wasteful, price gouging mafia middlemen in between us and our doctors, the insurance companies, and make Americans' healthcare entirely self funding with one payer?
Guess who’s getting a new FAA contract to help privatize air safety?Elon Musk. He’s cutting the FAA and everything else in government — and carving it off for himself.THE WHOLE THING IS A MONEY GRAB
Medicaid covers:- 21% of Americans nationally- 83 million low-income Americans- 4 in 10 children- 1 in 4 adults with disabilities- Nearly 50% of kids with special needs- 41% of births nationwide- 5 in 8 nursing home residents- 32% of people in Mike Johnson's home state
BREAKING — 21 "DOGE" staffers RESIGN in protest1/3 of "DOGE" technical team quit — experts who came to the government from companies like Amazon and GoogleRemember, Elon Musk (and most of his minions) don't actually have ANY technical expertise!"DOGE" in disarray
Our immigration carceral system is designed to create a permanent underclass of subminimum wage workers who can't speak up about workplace abuse or unionize for fear of deportation. Corporations like DoorDash prefer immigrants to be under threat, and that's who Trump represents.
Ok now vote is back on. To be clear this is basically a purely symbolic vote on a framework that won’t pass the senate and should be an absolute lay up
This is "The Boardroom" from Donald Trump’s “reality” show “The Apprentice.” Look at the top and you can see where the wall ends because it wasn’t a real boardroom. It was a set built on a soundstage because Trump’s real offices were small and shoddy. The show created an *illusion* of Trump success.
Of these two, the one bigot above or the classy lady below. Hate is not good for anyone.
"Trump Signs Executive Order to ‘Promote the Resettlement of White Afrikaner Refugees’ in the U.S." Trump finally finds refugees he will accept: WHITE ones from South Africa. This is real. Musk trying to help his fellow white apartheid lovers http://www.mediaite.com/trump/trump-…
BREAKING 🚨🚨🚨Trump stripping the security clearances of numerous antagonists, including NY AG Letitia James, DA Alvin BraggAnthony Blinken’s security clearances will also be revoked, following the same presidential directive aimed at Biden.nypost.com/2025/02/08/u…
This man, who might be high on Ketamine at any given moment, talks privately with Putin. He is not elected, nor is he appointed by Congress. He’s ‘outside’ of government.
He has hired a crew of young rightwing nerds and they are now inside every fucking computer system in the government. They work for a Russian agent.
Don’t be surprised when, sometime soon, every system shuts down or worse, every dime of US money is flying into Russian accounts.
It is painful to see that it would be so easy to destroy a big country like America.
Horribly hateful people / person the above.
“This isn’t DEI. It’s white Christian Nationalism.” of course it is they’re just using DEI as a cover.
It is nice to know that despite the religious right hate media which includes Fox Entertainment, that people are not buying the current demonization of the LGBTQ+ community. But if we don’t get loud and vocal and our democratic leaders don’t develop a spine and support the LGBTQ+ community our acceptance levels will keep sinking. Hugs
It’s no secret that queer rights are on a backslide in the United States — and American citizens aren’t happy.
In an annual survey by Gallup conducted just before Donald Trump took office, Americans were asked about their satisfaction with various aspects of the country’s culture and politics. That included “the acceptance of gay and lesbian people in the nation,” which only 51% of respondents said they were “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” with. That’s the lowest satisfaction rating in that area since 2013, and an 8 percentage point drop from 2017 at the start of Trump’s first term.
Respondents were also asked about their satisfaction with “the acceptance of transgender people in the nation.” To that, only 38% of respondents said they were “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied.”
Notably, the satisfaction varied by political party. Republicans reported that they were largely satisfied with the country’s treatment of gays and lesbians (55%) while Democrats reported dissatisfaction (44%). Both parties expressed dissatisfaction with America’s treatment of transgender people (though potentially for different reasons), with only 42% of Republicans and 31% of Democrats satisfied.
Beyond queer issues, Americans’ overall satisfaction is sitting at 38%, a record low that’s been maintained since 2022.
Ah no love like Christian love! Every time these loving Christian gang thugs break the laws to stop legal expression they don’t agree with because they demand everyone follow their church doctrine. The complete arrogance of these gang thugs who believe their religious views give them the right to disregard any laws they want while threatening families and terrorizing little kids. Sure a good way to make Christian recruits and spread the love of god screaming at little kids who want a story from a person in a costume. This is not protecting children nor evangelizing, their is terrorism and out of control hate. If anyone has an update to theis story please share it with us. Best wishes or Hugs
The event, which was taking place as part of Auckland’s annual Pride festival, was cancelled after 50 protestors pushed their way through the library and refused to leave.
Around 30 toddlers, young children and adults were forced to barricade themselves inside the library as the protestors continued, according to local outlets.
During the commotion, a 16-year-old girl attending a sports event alleges she was assaulted by Destiny Church members, suffering a concussion.
Police are investigating allegations of assault after anti-drag protestors stormed a family-friend drag event in Auckland, New Zealand.
Protestors linked to Christian fundamentalist group Destiny Church stormed the Te Atatū in Auckland on Saturday (15 February), where a storytime event for children hosted by a drag king was taking place.
The event, which was taking place as part of Auckland’s annual Pride festival, was cancelled after 50 protestors pushed their way through the library and refused to leave.
Around 30 toddlers, young children and adults were forced to barricade themselves inside the library as the protestors continued, according to local outlets.
During the commotion, a 16-year-old girl attending a sports event alleges she was assaulted by Destiny Church members, suffering a concussion.
Destiny Church members storming the library in Auckland. (YouTube)
Auckland Police said it is investigating allegations of assault over the protest, which it said “crossed a line.”
“The group’s actions caused considerable distress and concern among tamariki [children], library staff and visitors,” Inspector Simon Walker, acting Waitematā district commander, said. “nobody, especially children, should ever be made to feel unsafe.”
Walker encouraged anyone subjected to violent behaviour during the protest to make a report at their nearest Police station, or contact officials online at 105.police.govt.nz.
“Police and Auckland Council have worked closely around the pride celebrations, and this work will continue. We live in a diverse city in a diverse country, and that is worth celebrating.”
No arrests have been made at the time of reporting, though Walker added that enquiries are “in the early stages.”
Scottie's Playtime 